Thwarted psychological needs: the negative impact of customer mistreatment on service employees and the moderating role of empowerment HRM practices

Abstract

PurposeDrawing on self-determination theory (SDT), this study aims to understand the adverse effects of customer mistreatment on employee performance and well-being by thwarting the satisfaction of employees' basic psychological needs. It also examines how these negative effects may be mitigated by empowerment human resource management (HRM) practices.Design/methodology/approachTwo studies were conducted using survey data collected in China. In Study 1, cross-sectional data from 321 telemarketing employees were analyzed to examine how customer mistreatment reduces the satisfaction of employees' basic psychological needs, harming job performance and job satisfaction. In Study 2, multiwave, multisource data were collected from 149 property agents and their supervisors to replicate the findings of Study 1 and further test empowerment HRM as a moderator of the relationship between customer mistreatment and satisfaction of needs.FindingsThe results from both studies show that customer mistreatment leads to low job performance and job satisfaction via reduced satisfaction of employees' needs for autonomy and competence but not relatedness. Moreover, the negative effect on the satisfaction of employees' needs for autonomy and competence was buffered when organizations had high empowerment HRM practices in place.Originality/valueThis study provides new insights on customer mistreatment by understanding its effects from a motivational perspective, which has not been considered in prior research. It also explores how HRM practices can help satisfy employee needs in adverse work environments induced by customer mistreatment.

Perceptions of Customer Incivility, Job Satisfaction, Supervisor Support, and Participative Climate: A Multi-Level Approach

“…Hence, perceived customer incivility is an essential demand that fuels the health impairment process, generating high levels of stress. In addition, the front-line employee can interpret customer incivility as an indicator of goal failure and lack of performance (Koopmann et al, 2015), thereby thwarting the satisfaction of basic psychological needs for competence and autonomy (Gagné and Deci, 2005;Deci et al, 2017), and decreasing satisfaction (Kim et al, 2014;Chen et al, 2021). While this relationship was primarily studied in health care settings (Wang and Wang, 2017), restaurants (Han et al, 2016), and front-line employees in hotels and resorts (Yang and Lau, 2019), there is also empirical evidence showing a negative link between PCI and job satisfaction among retail employees (Kern and Grandey, 2009;Wilson and Holmvall, 2013).…”

“…Supportive supervisors, who provide guidance and training in employee's customer service role, elicit better sales skills and service performance (Liaw et al, 2010). By this, supervisors are empowering the employee to take effective action when meeting the next customer, essentially satisfying the basic needs for autonomy and competence thwarted by PCI (Gagné and Deci, 2005;Chen et al, 2021) and restoring satisfaction (Pettijohn et al, 2007;Deci et al, 2017). Also, in line with COR theory (Hobfoll, 2011), a supportive supervisor, through broader access to organizational resources and greater decision-making authority, can offer the necessary aid to deal with the situation by restoring or replacing depleted emotional and instrumental resources (Hobfoll et al, 2018) that are lost due to the frequent negative interactions with uncivil customers (Koopmann et al, 2015;Boukis et al, 2020).…”

“…When employees perceive that individuals have the power to influence decisions and participate in important discussions in their work unit, they feel that their work can involve action with a sense of volition and the experience of choice (Gagné and Deci, 2005). This, in turn, can elicit internalized forms of motivation through fulfilling the needs for autonomy and competence (Gagné and Deci, 2005;Deci et al, 2017) and giving rise to more positive attitudes, like job satisfaction (Miller and Monge, 1986;Bosak et al, 2017;Weber et al, 2020;Chen et al, 2021). Empirical evidence shows that perceptions of participative climate are better predictors of job satisfaction and performance than actual participation in specific decisions (Miller and Monge, 1986).…”

“…Transferring inferences derived from individual-level research to other organizational levels is a fallacy that can lead us to biased inferences (Kozlowski and Klein, 2000). Hence, while we can build on valuable individual-level evidence suggesting their existence and effects (Chen et al, 2021), we need to be cautious in naturally accepting that resources at higher levels work the same way they do at the individual level. To construct unbiased knowledge about multi-level phenomena in organizations, constructs need to be measured and theorized at the level they reside at Kozlowski and Klein (2000).…”

“…When employees perceive the work context as one that provides the necessary resources to satisfy these needs, they tend to develop internalized forms of motivation, be more performant in challenging tasks, and form more positive attitudes toward their jobs (Gagné and Deci, 2005). Chen et al (2021) have argued that empowering HRM practices could represent an organization-level characteristic that buffers the impact of customer incivility on basic needs' satisfaction. These results, however, are still waiting for confirmation at higher levels of analysis that can differentiate between the individual impact of perceptions of the environment, and the actual impact of the environment, which is more than the sum of individual perceptions (Bliese, 2000;Kozlowski and Klein, 2000).…”